Did the entire team lose a year of eligibility when the university president cancelled the season?

To me that just seems wrong. Well, that and the fact that the university president suspended two of the boys from school. Since they were on scholarship do they still get five years of tuition at Duke?

The whole thing was a complete disaster. All because of some lying nappy headed hoe. LOL sorry I just couldn't help myself with all of the Imus stuff going around.

The team had played a portion of the season, so yes, I believe they lost their eligibility. I haven't heard anything about if there's been any kind of appeal with the NCAA with that, I would imagine there has been.

The two that were suspended were "invited back" to Duke after the first round of charges were dropped. Neither has accepted the "invitation." One of them is now coaching the team at his high school, and both of them have had other colleges contact them about coming to play for them.

Here's a local news station's website with links to all their articles over the past year if you want to check it out

The team had played a portion of the season, so yes, I believe they lost their eligibility. I haven't heard anything about if there's been any kind of appeal with the NCAA with that, I would imagine there has been.

The two that were suspended were "invited back" to Duke after the first round of charges were dropped. Neither has accepted the "invitation." One of them is now coaching the team at his high school, and both of them have had other colleges contact them about coming to play for them.

Here's a local news station's website with links to all their articles over the past year if you want to check it out

I believe the Dookees had played two official games up to the day of the team suspension. That would be less than 20% of the season which would allow for a medical redshirt under NCAA rules, but I don't think there is anything in the book about a school suspending the team then restoring lost eligibility. I'm sure that would require a special review by the NCAA and could reopen some publicity Duke would not want. My guess, the boys will end up taking it on the chin unless some decide to make an individual appeal for an added year.

Some reason I thought this had already been resolved, none the less good to know that they've finally recognized that they didn't have a damn thing on them, and are dropping it. Time to disbar, and sue the hell out of Nifong.

(04/11/07-- RALEIGH) - Prosecutors have decided to drop all charges against three Duke lacrosse players accused of sexually assaulting a stripper at a team party, a person close to the case told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
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Send Us Your Tips | Real-time Traffic | AccuWeather Forecast The North Carolina Attorney General's office, which took over the case in January after the local district attorney was accused of ethics violations, said it would have an announcement on the case at 2:30 p.m.

Prosecutors did not say what the announcement would be, but Joseph Cheshire, an attorney for one of the indicted players, said, "I am very comfortable that the charges will be dismissed and these boys will be completely exonerated."

The sensational case had been troubled almost from the start, as DNA samples found no link to any of the Duke lacrosse players and the accuser's story about what happened that night began to change. The person who talked to the AP, speaking on condition of anonymity because a formal announcement had not been made, did not say why state prosecutors decided to drop the charges.

Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and David Evans were indicted last spring on charges of rape, kidnapping and sexual offense after the woman told police she was assaulted at a lacrosse team party where she had been hired to perform as a stripper.

The allegations at first outraged the Raleigh/Durham community -- the woman is black and attended nearby North Carolina Central University; all three Duke players are white. But that anger largely shifted to Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong as his evidence against the three fell apart and questions surfaced about the credibility accuser.

"Fresh eyes would have ended this case before it began," said Larry Pozner, a defense attorney for 33 years and former president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. "This is a travesty. This is a tragedy for the woman and the team and the individual defendants."

Nifong, who was away from his Durham office Wednesday, has been charged by the state bar with ethics violations connected to his handling of the case and could face disbarment.

From its earliest days, Nifong had driven the investigation. The 28-year-old woman initially said she was gang-raped and beaten by three white men at the March 13, 2006, party thrown by Duke's highly ranked lacrosse team.

The three indicted players' insisted the accusations were "fantastic lies," and another dancer who had been with the woman also questioned if she had been raped.

At the end, it appeared the case was based only on the testimony of the accuser, whom court documents indicate told wildly different versions of the alleged assault.

"We just hope this tramatic experience for all involved ends with the minimum ammount of damage," said the Rev. Jesse Jackson, whose Chicago-based Rainbow/Push Coalition had offered to help the accuser pay for college but was never able to make contact with her.

The accuser's shifting story led Nifong to drop the rape charges in December, but the other charges remained.

Nifong's recusal in January put the players' fate in the hands of North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper, who promised "a fresh and thorough review of the facts."

The North Carolina State Bar charged Nifong with making misleading and inflammatory comments about the athletes under suspicion. It later added more serious offenses of withholding evidence from defense attorneys and lying to the court and bar investigators. He stands trial on those charges in June.

Nifong had accused the team of refusing to cooperate, calling them "a bunch of hooligans," and promised DNA evidence would finger the guilty.

But even before Nifong won indictments, word arrived there was no DNA evidence tying any player to the accuser, a development the dismissed by insisting he could win without it. The defense would later learn that a series of tests Nifong ordered from a private lab found genetic material from several men on the accuser's underwear and body, but none from any Duke lacrosse player.

The lack of DNA evidence -- along with Nifong's decision to apparently keep those details from the defense and lie in court about doing so -- would eventually come to symbolize the legions of problems with the case.

The second dancer at the party called the allegations "a crock." Seligmann produced ATM and fast-food receipts, cell phone records and other evidence that suggested he was not at the party when the rape supposedly took place.

Defense attorneys attacked a key photo lineup -- suggested by Nifong -- that they said violated police procedures because it used only pictures of lacrosse players, even though investigators knew other men attended the party.

They harped on the accuser's credibility, likely damaged in the eyes of a potential jury by her inconsistent story, a decade-old claim she was gang-raped that never led to an arrest, and a December revelation that she was pregnant.

"This case had evidentiary problems that were obvious before anybody was charged," Pozner said. "What this case needed was a thorough impartial investigation before anyone was charged and any reputations were ruined."

Duke temporarily suspended sophomores Finnerty, 20, of Garden City, N.Y., and Seligmann, 21, of Essex Fells, N.J., in the wake of their arrest. Both were invited to return to campus, but neither has accepted. Evans, 24, of Bethesda, Md., graduated the day before he was indicted in May.

John Danowski, the former coach at Hofstra who took over the Duke program last summer, has also said that both are welcome to continue their lacrosse careers with the Blue Devils.

Danowski said he had moved the team's afternoon practice to Wednesday night so his players could attend a planned defense news conference with their former teammates.